# Is Orion going to have a bum shoulder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 27, 2019, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468 "2019-12-27T20:35:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/41 "2020-01-01T21:31:21Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Good point, but a minor nitpick: The logarithmic magnitude scale is based not on 2.5, but on 2.5118… (the fifth root of 100), so magnitude 5 is 100x dimmer than magnitude 0. The reason for this odd choice is historical. The magnitude scale is more than 2000 years old and originally had no precise mathematical definition. In the 19th century the modern definition was introduced to approximately match the historical magnitudes. Thanks for clearing that up. I knew I was overlooking some minor detail but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/42 "2020-01-01T23:50:12Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > According to the Wiki article, the Big B is a variable star and normally varies from about 0.00 to +1.3 (faintest). Each order of stellar magnitude, by definition, is 2.5 so at the bottom of its normal variation it’s already more than twice as faint as when it’s at its brightest. > > So what I’d l like to know now is just how faint Betelgeuse is at the moment. What is the current magnitude? > > Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk It’s apparently at [the bottom of the historic range](http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13365), with a +1.294 reading on the 20th. Meanwhile _Sky and Telescope_’s [Bob King writes](https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/fainting-betelgeuse/) that to him it seemed it may be approaching +1.5 at the end of December, down from 0.5 as late as October. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/43 "2020-01-02T00:36:23Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Which really puzzles me about [an alleged supernova sighted in 1006](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006), which was visible for about two weeks. It would have been visible for 2 weeks by people without telescopes or binoculars, but it continued fading after it disappeared from our view. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/44 "2020-01-02T02:47:33Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > It’s apparently at [the bottom of the historic range](http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=13365), with a +1.294 reading on the 20th. Meanwhile _Sky and Telescope_’s [Bob King writes](https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/fainting-betelgeuse/) that to him it seemed it may be approaching +1.5 at the end of December, down from 0.5 as late as October. I should go out tonight and have a look…no, not this time of year around these parts. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/45 "2020-01-04T00:01:16Z")
Maybe this is a sign of the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Gal./Sid./Year 03758? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/46 "2020-01-04T01:32:33Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Maybe this is a sign of the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Gal./Sid./Year 03758? Interestingly, my father/uncle was the only man on the entire planet to survive the Great Collapsing Hrung disaster, by an extraordinary coincidence that he was never able satisfactorily to explain. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/47 "2020-01-17T17:59:41Z")
In case anyone wants to see a before-and-after comparison, here are two photos, one from last night and the other from just over a year ago. The image sets were taken under different conditions and with different lenses, so disregard the differences in overall brightness and focus on the comparative brightness of stars within each photo. The December 2018 image was made edit a faster lens. [December 2018](https://flic.kr/p/2igfq6R) [January 2020](https://flic.kr/p/2igj3kh) Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/48 "2020-01-18T01:23:32Z")
Thanks. I can’t even find it in the second picture. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/49 "2020-01-18T03:03:35Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Thanks. I can’t even find it in the second picture. In the second shot the entire field is tilted about a quarter turn counterclockwise in comparison to the first photo. Rigel, the one particularly bright star, is near the right margin towards the bottom. Betelgeuse is near the left margin towards the top. The red color is prominent as ever, but the star appears in this image only about bright as the three belt stars. To get a better image. I should go out again tonight and use my 50mm lens as I did for the 2018 shot, but–Oregon. I was lucky to have one clear night yesterday. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/50 "2020-01-18T03:56:19Z")
Now I want to watch the last two minutes of “Forbidden Planet” again… just to watch the Krell planet explode… ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/51 "2020-01-18T05:19:50Z")
^ Monsters from the OrionIds ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468/52 "2020-01-18T06:26:50Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > In the second shot the entire field is tilted about a quarter turn counterclockwise in comparison to the first photo. Rigel, the one particularly bright star, is near the right margin towards the bottom. > > Betelgeuse is near the left margin towards the top. The red color is prominent as ever, but the star appears in this image only about bright as the three belt stars. > > To get a better image. I should go out again tonight and use my 50mm lens as I did for the 2018 shot, but–Oregon. I was lucky to have one clear night yesterday. > > Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk I could tell it was at a different angle, because the belt wasn’t in the same place. Now that you pointed out where Betelgeuse was, I can see it now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-orion-going-to-have-a-bum-shoulder/845468.md?page=2)